carlkolchak_v2 (original) (raw)
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07 February 2009 @ 08:32 pm
Hello I'm new so to start off I need you all to help me even if this was ridiculous. What's the song at the end of Three?
Random note: All these interviews with Frank you'd think they have 1 or 2 done with Stuart and/or Gabby or an of the other stars.
Fair Warning this interview actually tells you what Carls ,mark on his wrist actually IS!
Pan and Scan Interview: 'Night Stalker'
How's this for network-on-fan cruelty? The short-lived 2005 series 'Night Stalker,' starring big name actors Gabrielle Union and Stuart Townsend, was canned by ABC between Parts One and Two of a two-part episode.
Fortunately 'Night Stalker - The Complete Series' has been released on DVD so fans can stop biting their nails and find out whether Jain survived the sawed-off shot gun blast to the stomach.
For the uninitiated, 'Night Stalker' is based on the 1972 television movie 'The Night Stalker' and the 1974 follow-up series 'Kolchak: The Night Stalker.' 2005's 'Stalker' retains lead character Carl Kolchak, his motive (finding his wife's murderer) and line of work (reporter), but little else. Kolchak is younger, lives in modern-day LA and has Gabrielle Union for a sidekick.
Pan and Scan was fortunate enough to speak with the show's executive producer Frank Spotnitz, a name you know from his stints as executive producer for 'The X Files,' 'The Lone Gunmen,' 'Robbery Homicide Division' and 'Millennium.'
After the jump, the talented Mr. S. discusses 'Night Stalker's' cancellation, Craftsman homes and the things that go bump in LA.
( there be spoilers behind here, you were warnedCollapse )
Night Stalker: The Complete Series DVD
Review by Troy Rogers, contributing editor
Stuart Townsend stars in a modern day remake of the original '70s Night Stalker series, made famous by the late Darren McGavin in the role of Carl Kolchak. Produced by X-Files writer Frank Spotnitz (who also worked on Millenium and The Lone Gunmen), Night Stalker follows Carl Kolchak as he pushes forward on an obsessive hunt for his own wife's murderer and discovers that his imagination is no match for the evil that truly lurks in the dark. Paired with skeptic Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union), television's favorite crime reporter will stop at nothing to uncover the supernatural side of the night.
( Read more...Collapse )
Click the link for the interview.
If anyone would like to post a transcript of this short interview, please feel free. I'd do it but I'm running short on time today.
Than I find the interviewers voice very irritating/grating.
NightStalker DVD Signing at Best Buy
Stars Stuart Townsend, Gabrielle Union, and Producer Frank Spotnitz signed DVDs at Best Buy in West Hollywood to celebrate the May 30th DVD release of NIGHT STALKER: The Complete Series, including four previously unaired episodes.
NIGHT STALKER: THE COMPLETE SERIES centers around crime reporter Carl Kolchak’s (Stuart Townsend) obsessive hunt for his own wife’s murderer, and the discoverery that his imagination is no match for the evil that lurks in the dark. Paired with skeptic Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union), Kolchak stops at nothing to uncover the supernatural side of the night.
From Frank Spotnitz, the producer of The X-Files; NIGHT STALKER: THE COMPLETE SERIES is so good, it’s scary.
from TVGuide.com
Night Stalker: The Truth Is Out on DVD
by Matt Webb Mitovich
Fans of one of the original ghostbusters and his most recent TV incarnation would be wise to scare up a copy of the new Night Stalker DVD boxed set hitting stores today, as it offers up not only four episodes never broadcast during the series' fall 2005 ABC run, but also revealing commentary from creator Frank Spotnitz. TVGuide.com seized this opportunity to ask Spotnitz about his Stalker's unfortunate fate, the frightfully fun show he's working on now and the next X-Files film.
TVGuide.com:First, I want to thank you for blogging for our Insider column last fall.
Frank Spotnitz: Oh, it was fun!
TVGuide.com: Night Stalker is certainly the type of program that benefits from such added insight.
Spotnitz: Yeah, that was good.
TVGuide.com: In retrospect, did the series accomplish creatively what you set out to accomplish?
Spotnitz: Yeah, I feel really proud of the work that we were able to do. I had so much more in mind and mapped out that I wanted to do. I talk about that a lot on the DVD commentaries, about what seeds we were planning for the mythology, and I answer a lot of the questions about what the mark was on Kolchak's hand and whether he killed his wife and so on.
TVGuide.com: Is there anything you could have done different to extend its longevity?
Spotnitz: The truth is I fought every battle I knew how to fight at the time to keep the show on the air. I was aware we were struggling from Day 1, because we were given such a tough time slot. And then over the summer [of 2005] I saw we weren't going to be getting any paid advertising. [Laughs] When we debuted, our one source of hope was that we had this lead-in of Alias, but their numbers were so disappointing. The research showed that their audience was not compatible with ours. We had a number of tough breaks, so I was making the case that this was a really good show and [the problem] wasn't the show but the time slot, the lack of promotion and an incompatible lead-in. I had a lot of supporters, at the studio and the network, who agreed with me, so I was really optimistic — until the day we got canceled — that we would find a way to prevail.
TVGuide.com: Do you feel that Supernatural, which also debuted last fall, or all the guys watching CSI were liabilities?
Spotnitz: I don't think Supernatural was; there's room for more than one like that, and their audience is slightly different than ours. But the same research showing that Alias' audience was completely different from ours showed that CSI's audience was exactly our audience. It was the worst possible place to be! [Laughs] A brand-new show up against the No. 1 show, going for the exact same audience.
TVGuide.com: What would have been a better ABC companion show for Night Stalker?
Spotnitz: I don't know their programming well enough. But it was telling to me that what they replaced us with in January was Dancing with the Stars. That is what you do to counterprogram CSI.
TVGuide.com: What was series star Stuart Townsend's reaction to the cancellation?
Spotnitz: Everybody was really shocked. Even though you know you're struggling in the ratings, when you feel the work is as good as we all felt it was, you can't believe somebody is going to cancel it. "How could they?"
TVGuide.com: Kolchak was the sort of rich character an actor like Stuart could really get immersed in.
Spotnitz: Yes. Being a feature actor, in the beginning he was a little taken aback by how heavy the workload was, but by Episodes 8 and 10, he was really enjoying the challenge. Especially Episode 10, which you can see for the first time on the DVD. It's all Stuart. It's a tour de force for him.
TVGuide.com: This DVD set has four episodes that have never been seen?
Spotnitz: They will be seen on Sci Fi Channel this summer, but they have never been broadcast. I have to say, we shot the show using this new Genesis camera, which is state-of-the-art, high-definition video camera, and it looks gorgeous, especially on DVD. I'm really excited for people to see it this way.
TVGuide.com: Sounds like Night Stalker is begging for an HD-DVD/Blu-ray release as well.
Spotnitz: It's meant for it. The quality is spectacular. The first time our director of photography looked through the viewfinder of this camera, he came away with tears in his eyes. It was so beautiful.
( about other thingsCollapse )
I just updated the rules a few days ago. Feel free to post at anytime but try to be careful of spoilers.
from azcentral.com
Cult encore
Short-lived update is worth a second look
May. 29, 2006 12:00 AM
Short-lived TV shows don't die these days: They simply turn up on DVD. Night Stalker, ABC's update of the '70s cult favorite, was canned last year after only six episodes had aired. Too bad, because this chiller about a newspaperman (Stuart Townsend) who tangles with the supernatural is pretty creepy stuff. The mood is very X-Files, and the spooky plots have enough surprises to keep viewers guessing. Naysayers may carp that Townsend lacks the blustery edge that Darren McGavin brought to the original. Better to treat this as an all-new series that just happens to share the same name as the old one. Bonus features include four episodes that never aired, commentary tracks and an interview with creator Frank Spotnitz. Keep an eye out for a nifty little tribute to McGavin in the pilot episode.
Last Night I finally got around to watching the two Night Stalker clips on MySpace THough the one on the main paige was creepy as all hell watching bits of it over time until it finished downloading dulled my shock of it bit (Bloody Wheelchair) but the one on the Videos page really got my blood pumping and heart racing no matter how many times I say it (Gun Battle) Man the music the MUSIC my god that was just awsome it just fit the scene perfectly. Those bikers..utterly unstoppable ( I cheated and read a spoiler and I know why they're unstappable man, it gave me the massive creeps.
Frank (Spotnitz) said something about it in "The Sea" (I think) which was the concluding part of "The Source" . Once you hear the commentary for that episode (I'm assuming) you'll understand all about why I got the jitters while watching that clip.
Can't wait for Tuesday to get here. I pre-ordered the DVD about a month ago and still May 30th can't get here fast enough
Current Music: My Hero Mr. President - Paula Cole
The all seem to be from the last episode, entitled "What's the Frequency Kolchak?" All three are different (hence the *exclusive* part)
Now if you don't want to be spoiled I heavily advise you don't watch them but for those who are curious here are the links
One from "3 Black Chicks" (damnit I can't get this link to work)
This one is from Official Site on Ning (literally leaves you hanging on the edge of your seat)
And one on MySpace
(Sorry if the subject seems a bit misleading)
Just today I found An interview Frank Spotnitz did for EW.com. THe Main subject was about an X-Files movie sequel but he also talks a great deal about "Night Stalker", which is coming out on DVD this coming Tuesday, May 30, 2006.
The Sequel Is Out There
A new ''X-Files'' movie?!? Exec producer Frank Spotnitz tells Michelle Kung about the big-screen resurrection
of Mulder and Scully, plus the new ''Night Stalker'' DVD
''Creepy'' and ''disturbing'' aren't your typical compliments, but for any TV series executive-produced by Frank Spotnitz, both are high praise. The former X-Files producer and staff writer (not to mention ex-EW contributor) chatted with EW about a possible cinematic resurrection of Mulder and Scully, plus finding closure for his canceled (and new-to-DVD) series Night Stalker.
( The X-Files part of the interviewCollapse )
ABC pulled Night Stalker, your reimagining of the classic '70s series, off the schedule in the middle of a two-part episode. How gratifying is it to finally see the show available on DVD?
Very much so. One of the ideas unique to the series was, ''Is Carl Kolchak [Stuart Townsend] what he seems to be? Is he a hero or a murderer? By the time of [the last aired] episode, people were pretty sure he was a hero, and the ending of the two-parter makes you question that all over again. We've also included two scripts that were in pre-production when we were canceled.
Do you think the show got a fair shake from the network?
You never know what might have happened, but we had three huge strikes against us. First was the time slot, Thursdays at 9, opposite CSI, which is arguably the worst time slot you could get for a new show. Secondly, we didn't get any paid advertising — the network made a decision to spend all their money on their other dramas. Lastly, our lead-in [Alias] turned out to be a lot weaker than anyone thought it would be, and as it turned out, didn't even have the same audience as our show. When you have those three things going against you, it's almost impossible to succeed.
So was it painful to sit through all the episodes again for the commentary?
I saw the commentary as an opportunity to reveal as much as I could about where the show was going and what all the secrets were. I explain an awful lot about what the mark on Kolchak's wrist means, whether or not he actually killed his wife, and a lot of other questions I think viewers were hoping would get answered when the show got pulled.
This was in the Sept. 30, 2005 issue of Entertainment Weekly magazine.
Diary of a Night Stalker
Former 'X-Files' executive producer Frank Spotnitz chronicles
his efforts to resurrect a 1970s TV cult horror classic for ABC
by Frank Spotnitz
July 15, 2004
Having coffee with my wife, Melissa, when my cell phone rings. It's Mark Pedowitz, president of Touchstone Television. Reception is poor, but the words ''The Night Stalker'' cut right through the static. Mark, a longtime science fiction fan, wants to know if I'd be interested in doing a new series based on the 32-year-old TV movie.
Would I be interested? As a child, I watched endless hours of television — Star Trek, The Wild Wild West, Mission: Impossible — but nothing struck me as deeply as The Night Stalker, which aired as an ABC Movie of the Week on Jan. 11, 1972. It was about a down-and-out newspaper reporter, Carl Kolchak, who comes upon the story of his life when cocktail waitresses start turning up exsanguinated, apparent victims of a real-life vampire. The show scared the crap out of me — and I wasn't alone: It was the highest-rated TV movie of all time (up to that point), grabbing 48 percent of the viewing audience.
Not surprisingly, ABC broadcast a sequel, The Night Strangler, which transplanted Kolchak to Seattle in pursuit of a serial killer who couldn't die. I loved every second of it, as I did Kolchak: The Night Stalker, the TV series that followed in 1974. Although the show wasn't half as good as the movies, it had one very big thing going for it: Darren McGavin.
McGavin, by that time a veteran character actor in his 50s, was unforgettable as Kolchak. Funny and charming, sporting a straw hat and seersucker suit, he was always sticking his tape recorder into places it didn't belong — a perpetual irritant to anyone in a position of authority, most especially his long-suffering editor, Tony Vincenzo, played by the late, great Simon Oakland.
But neither McGavin nor the viewing public was enamored of the series, and by the time the 20th episode aired, the network granted McGavin's pleas to cancel it.
It made sense Pedowitz would think of me to take another crack at it — Chris Carter, my friend and collaborator, cited The Night Stalker as his prime inspiration for creating The X-Files. I was an exec producer of that show, writing on it for eight years. And the similarities between the two were undeniable. But much as I loved Night Stalker, I wasn't eager to put in 80-hour weeks over the next eight years telling the same kind of stories. I said I'd think about it.
For those in the area!!!
Night Stalker - West Hollywood Autographing Session For Night Stalker Star(s) & Exec. Producer
Posted by David Lambert
A week from tomorrow (on May 30th) sees the release of Night Stalker - The Complete Series, the recent remake of the classic Kolchak TV series. Recently TVShowsOnDVD.com owner and webmaster Gord Lacey posted at our blog that he had gotten the chance to interview Night Stalker (and X-Files) Executive Producer Frank Spotnitz, and that he'll be getting that typed up and posted soon. Now you can meet and greet Spotnitz yourself!
Buena Vista has let us know that Spotnitz will be available at an autograph signing at the West Hollywood Best Buy (1015 N. La Brea, at the corner of Santa Monica and La Brea) on Tuesday, June 30th (same day the set is released) at 7PM local time, and staying until 9PM. Joining him will be Night Stalker star Stuart Townsend (who's played a vampire himself, in case anyone's forgotten, taking the "Lestat" role in the 2002 Anne Rice film Queen of the Damned). They're also hoping to convince co-star Gabrielle Union to show up as well, but her schedule may not allow for it. But if you're anywhere in the vicinity, drop by that evening and pick up a copy of the set and get some autographs!
Wow Long time no post eh? I hope this place will be busy enough once Night Stalker comes out on DVD in just over a week!
But either way I wanted to post this interview with Frank Spotnitz to get this community active once again.
from dvd.monstersandcritic.com
With Night Stalker - The Complete Series making its way to DVD on May 30th, Frank Spotnitz, the developer, producer and a writer for the show, took time to discuss the upcoming release, and how the show was both similar and different from the original television hit.
Night Stalker delivers a fresh twist on the classic series by following Carl Kolchak - now played by Stuart Townsend who is a bit of a departure from Darren McGavin performance in the original show. Townsend’s Kolchak is an obsessive crime reporter who is searching for person or thing responsible for his wife’s murder.
Although Kolchak is accused of the crime, he is convinced it was committed by something much darker than a simple human being and he also discovers that his imagination is no match for the evil that lurks in the dark. Paired with skeptic reporter Perri Reed (Gabrielle Union), Kolchak stops at nothing to get his story and uncover the supernatural side of the night.
The DVD collects all six episodes that aired on television, and comes with four bonus episodes that never aired. Other special features include a “making of” look at the show; deleted scenes; audio commentaries, and a script printer (DVD ROM) for episodes that were never filmed.
Like Kolchak, Spotnitz knows a few things about the darker side of the night and the supernatural. He is an award-winning writer and producer whose credits include The X-Files, Millennium; Harsh Realm, and The Lone Gunmen. He was the co-author for the story of The X-Files: Fight the Future feature film in 1998. Spotnitz has won three Golden Globes for Best Dramatic Series, a Peabody Award, and three Emmy nominations for Outstanding Dramatic Series.